Almost Made It (On Hiatus, Will be Returning)
by WishItWasCanon
Summary: Lucy is a high school student with a dark secret. Natsu is the assassin hired to kill her. With difficult pasts and lives on the line, will Natsu make the shot?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello everyone and thank you for clicking to read my story! This is my first fanfic, so please leave reviews and suggestions for me so that I can make it even more enjoyable. This first chapter is going to be a little short because I'm just introducing the basic theme. The next update will hopefully be soon. Enjoy!**

 **I do not own any of the Fairy Tail characters or the story itself.**

* * *

The cherry blossoms drifted slowly down the soft, green ground and rested there gently. It was the perfect scene of natural beauty, a painting waiting to happen. The park was full of soft chirping and running water, and undisturbed peace floating in the air.

The soft padding of feet could now be heard, the sound belonging to a tall blonde entering the park. Her name is Lucy Heartfelia, a seventeen year old girl attending the prestigious Magnolia Academy located in Magnolia Town, Fiore. She majors in creative writing and music, and is considered the hottest and most popular girl in the school.

Lucy continues her stroll, golden hairs intertwining with the soft pinks of flying petals. She smiles wide, her brown eyes shining with wonder at the nature surrounding her. _I should walk home through the park more often_. She is completely unaware of the impending danger she faces.

A shot rings out, disturbing the quiet peace of the park. A bullet strikes the ground just beside Lucy's foot as she sidesteps the shot. Her eyes are now narrowed and alert, searching the nearest areas that could hide someone with a sniper rifle. A bush rustles to her left and her head snaps in that direction to catch a glimpse of a figure in all black.

Once she was sure the sniper is gone, she stooped to pick the bullet from the dirt. To anyone with an untrained eye it was a regular bullet with nothing special about it, but to Lucy it was evidence that she was being targeted by a dangerous organization. _Phantom Lord_.

* * *

A young man in all black quickly runs from the scene. His name is Natsu Dragneel, an assassin at the top of his class graduating from the Phantom School for Young Potential. He had always hated the name of the school, giving off the façade of normal academic activities. The true colors of the school were black and scarlet for the uniforms of murder and the blood of their victims. Anyone who wanted someone dead came to them and put in requests, there was no one that could compare to their efficiency on the job. Natsu was one of the best at the school, no one showing as much promise as he did since the time of the great Zeref.

Natsu had taken position in some bushes off to the blonde's left, polishing and positioning his gun for the perfect kill shot angle. He had been shadowing the Heartfelia girl for weeks to gather every piece of information about her. He knew when she woke up, ate, got to school, talked to friends, did homework, and slept. She had never been alerted to his presence, and he was able to keep a close watch on her. It was pure luck that she had decided to walk home alone through the park today. It was uncrowded and quiet, the perfect conditions for an assassination.

He had taken aim while she admired the cherry blossoms floating in the air. She was smiling wide, and he almost felt bad to have to kill such a beautiful woman, but a job was a job. His finger tightened around the trigger and the shot rang out. A deafening silence ensued.

His eyes must have mistaken him, because there was no way she just dodged that bullet. But there she was, unharmed and alert to the new situation. _I missed something. The way she's standing and searching the area, it's not how any normal student would act. And then there's the fact that she somehow dodged my shot, which no one has ever done._ He had seen his chance and sprinted from the bushes that were concealing him, leaving no trace of his existence. _I'm all fired up!_


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the wait, but here's the new chapter. I'm still figuring out the specific plot line, so the future updates may take a little longer, but I promise that I will not give up on this story.**

 **I do not own any of these characters.**

* * *

Lucy had sprinted home, practically suffocating when she had reached her door and locked it behind her. She leaned unsteadily against the wooden barrier and her legs gave out. She slid down to the ground, feeling the soft rug beneath her as it tickled her sweaty skin. The house was eerily quiet, the only noises being her ragged breaths and the occasional creaking. _Levy must not be home yet._

Lucy slowly dragged herself to the bathroom, carefully grabbing the edge of the sink to pull herself up. One look in the mirror told her she was in desperate need of a cold shower. _Or maybe a nice, long, relaxing bath full of warm water. This muscle tension will kill me at practice tonight._

She staggered to the stairs, grabbing furniture and walls to keep her upright. The stairs proved much more difficult, but she was regaining her strength slowly and managed to make it up to the second floor without falling. _Just a few more feet to the bathroom, I can do this!_ Lucy thought as she moved forward. Unfortunately, she felt her legs give halfway there and again slid to the ground in a heap of limbs. She pressed her forehead to the cool wood and attempted to get her arms under herself and pushed. They too gave out and Lucy was left to regain her strength in a crumpled heap on the ground.

 _Why is this happening to me? I've never had my body react like this to fear before, and I've faced plenty of it. So why now?_ The thoughts swarmed through her head one after the other, assaulting her with doubt and confusion. She tried to get up again, yet found herself trapped on the floor. Instead of trying to raise herself, she got into a more comfortable position, her arms tucked around her legs, bringing her knees to her chest. She stared at the wall and at the floor, contemplating what had happened and how she had reacted. One last question popper into her head before she drifted off into the dark unknown of sleep. _Who wants me dead?_

* * *

Levy opened the door and walked inside, careful to balance the groceries in her hand and prevent them from falling all over the blue rug. She noticed that Lucy's bag had been haphazardly thrown to the side of the couch, the downstairs bathroom light still on. Levy sighed and walked into the kitchen to place the groceries on the table before going to turn the bathroom light off. As she walked out again, she noticed a small droplet on the floor, a droplet of scarlet.

She frantically searched the downstairs for any sign of Lucy and, upon finding nothing but a few more drops of blood, headed up the stairs quickly. _What happened? Why didn't she call me? I'm such a horrible roommate for not sensing something to be wrong!_ Levy sprinted up the last step and almost tripped over the comatose blonde. There was a small pool of blood below her left leg, a dry line extending from a small cut in the middle of her calf. _Thank Mavis, it doesn't look too serious!_

The small bluenette got down on her knees and lightly shook Lucy's shoulder to wake her. The blonde responded by opening her eyes suddenly, a fear Levy had never seen on her face very evident in the brown orbs.

"Hey! Lucy, Lucy look at me! You're ok now, you're ok. It's just me, it's Levy." The bluenette explained softly, holding the shaking blonde in a gentle hug to calm her down.

"Oh thank Mavis it's you!," Lucy exhaled, finally calm and aware of her surroundings. She pulled back to look at Levy and immediately noticed the worry creasing the short girl's face.

"Lu, why are you sleeping on the floor in the middle of the hallway? And why are you bleeding?" Levy gushed. She quickly stood, pulling Lucy up with her, and hurried to the bathroom. Lucy sat on the edge of the tub as Levy collected cleaning supplies and bandages for the cut.

"I hadn't even realized I was bleeding," Lucy whispered, more to herself than to Levy, her eyes glazing over. The tears fell silently as she remembered everything that had happened before Levy found her on the floor.

Now Levy was sure that something very bad had happened. She'd seen her best friend in every kind of bad situation, some that would give regular people nightmares, but the blonde had never been bothered and had always kept a calm atmosphere about her. For her to break down like this, well, Levy couldn't even begin to imagine what had happened. She wrapped her arms securely around Lucy and her friend curled up and sobbed into her shoulder.

They stayed like that for almost thirty minutes, enough time for Lucy to gather herself and restrain her emotions. Her tear-stained cheeks and puffy eyes stood out starkly against her creamy skin. _She looks so out of place. Someone like her just doesn't look like they should be crying,_ Levy thought as her friend backed out of her arms.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Levy asked tentatively. It was clearly a trick question, at least to anyone who knew Levy well. She was going to know what happened whether you wanted to tell her or not, and Lucy was very aware of this.

"Honestly, no, but I know that I should." Lucy sighed. "I was walking home from school today, alone and through the park path instead of my normal route. It was so pretty Levy, you would have loved it! There were flower petals drifting on the wind and birds singing quietly, it really was the perfect scene."

Levy watched as her friend's face lit up and her eyes sparkled as she recalled the so-called perfect moment in the park. Levy looked down at her hands as she felt a smile grace her lips. _Lucy always loves talking about stuff like this, and she always seems able to find the perfect moments. I wish I could take more notice of my surroundings like she does._ The bluenette raised her eyes again, but this time hurt and fear swirled in the brown orbs belonging to her friend.

"But then there was a gunshot. I sidestepped quickly when I realized it was too close to be meant for anyone but me. The bullet hit the ground two inches away from my feet." She explained, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small silver bullet with flames and the words Phantom Lord etched into its sides. Levy reached out and clasped the metal in her fingertips, as if it were preciously fragile and not an instrument of death.

"We should change and head straight to practice." Levy's voice rang out curtly through the empty halls of the house. She looked at Lucy once more, placing a warm hand on her shoulder, and took off towards her room to get ready. Lucy hoisted herself up and walked to the other side of the hallway where her own room was located. _Man, I'm still really sticky from the sweat earlier. I wish I could take a shower right now!_ But she knew she couldn't, she simply didn't have time. When Levy was as serious as she had just been, she didn't waste time and the blonde was expected to be ready within ten minutes. Lucy sighed as she pushed all of her clothes on the closet rod aside and opened the small hidden wall compartment. Her knives glittered as the light reached out to caress their smooth surfaces.

* * *

Natsu opened the door to his dorm, painfully recalling the look on the headmaster's face when he had been informed of the mission failure. _I am never going to live this down,_ he thought as his clothes were stripped from his body and tossed aside on the bathroom floor. The hot water running down his back brought him back to the moment he had pulled the trigger and he thought of all of the possibilities that would allow the Heartfelia to dodge his bullet. _It couldn't have been a mere coincidence, I aim to precisely for that to even be possible. She had to have known it was coming somehow, but what was the giveaway? Maybe it was the noise the gun made._ Natsu pondered for what seemed to be only minutes, not fully realizing that he has been in the shower for almost an hour now. Theories ran rampant in his mind, one after the other shot down by his logic and reasoning. _Alright, so she knew the bullet was coming because of the sound the gun made as the shot was fired. I must have missed something very important concerning her activities outside of school, because no regular girl would have been able to dodge like did. It was perfectly timed and her form was outstanding. She looked as professionally trained as the students here at Phantom, which means she's been hiding something from me. But how?_

Natsu's thought process was interrupted when a head of long, messy black hair appeared from behind the shower curtain.

"Oi, Flamebrain, how long are you planning to take exactly? I got here an hour ago and you were already in here, which means you've had more than enough time to do what you need to do. Get out!" Gajeel's gruff voice echoed in Natsu's ears before the bathroom door was slammed shut and the heavy footprints slowly got softer with distance. Natsu let out a long sigh before turning the water off and grabbing a towel off the rack as he stepped out onto the tile floor. _I have to come up with a new plan, and soon._


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry for the late update, and for the fact that it's so short. I hope you enjoy, and I will try my best to upload the next chapter very soon!**

* * *

Natsu walked rigidly through the office doors leading to what he assumed was his impending doom. _The master is going to kill me._ He thought, grimacing at the idea of his kill legacy being so bleak. The sound of a throat being cleared broke him out of his thoughts and his head snapped up to meet the taut frown of Master Hose, the principle at Phantom Lord.

"Tell me, Natsu," Hose began, the frown on his face deepening. "What exactly happened on your last mission?"

"Sir, I am ashamed to report that I, Natsu Dragneel, missed my target on my most recent mission." Natsu replied robotically. There was no emotion in his voice, for this is the attitude the students at Phantom were taught to use at all times.

"And how could you let this happen?"

"I misjudged the girl's-"

"The target, Natsu. She is just a mission, another mark on your ledger of successful kills." Hose interrupted, a dark anger crossing his features for only a second.

"Of course, Sir. I misjudged the target's abilities to react to danger. It seems that I was not thorough enough in my investigation of her skill set." Natsu explained, looking straight ahead at the bookcase instead of looking his master in the eye. It seemed this decision was a mistake.

Hose was over the desk and grabbing Natsu's face in one hand faster than the pinkette could blink. He forced Natsu to look him straight in the eyes, anger evidently swirling in a dark mass in his irises.

"You ALWAYS look at me when addressing me, especially when it is information on a FAILED MISSION." Hose yelled. His grip around Natsu's chin tightened and he had to bite his cheek to keep from crying out in pain. "Understood?"

"Yes, Sir!" Natsu replied, looking directly into Hose's eyes. The man released his grip and walked away towards the window. With his back to Natsu, the boy was able to rub his chin and hopefully ease some of the pain. _I'll be blessed if I don't have bruises here tomorrow._

"Natsu, formulate a new plan of attack for this target." the master ordered.

"Yes, Sir!" Natsu replied curtly. He turned to walk away and reached for the door. As he was opening it, Hose began to speak again.

"Make sure this time, you don't miss. We got this mission from a very important client, and I'm afraid I won't be able to ensure your safety, should you fail." Hose explained, his smirk growing with every word. Natsu nodded slightly and walked quickly through the door and into the hallway. Ideas ran rampant through his mind as he wandered back to his dorm room. Just as he reached for the doorknob, something ingenious came to mind. _I'm going to need to ask those idiots for help._

* * *

A knock sounded in the uneasy room and the door was opened as Gray walked in. Now, with everyone here, Natsu moved to the front near the TV to address everyone. Unfortunately, Gajeel beat him to the punch.

"Oi, Salamander, what the hell are we all doing here?" Gajeel asked, irritation clear in his voice as his arms swept outwards to emphasize the amount of people in the room.

"If you would let me talk, Iron Mouth, you would know." Natsu retorted. "I had to come up with a new plan of attack for my most recent mission do to…unseen complications."

"What kind of complications?" Gajeel asked while grinning.

"You obviously know exactly what kind of complications." The level of annoyance was clear in Natsu's voice, and yet the members in the room all burst laughter.

"Wait, wait, wait! Are you trying to tell me that you MISSED?" Gray asked in between gasping breaths.

"YES! For Zeref's sake, I'm not perfect! It was bound to happen sooner or later." Natsu addressed angrily. He waited impatiently as the boys regained their composure and allowed him to go on explaining his new plan.

"So, as I was saying before, I had to make a new plan. I have one that is guaranteed to kill her, but I am going to need your help to do it." The pinkette explained. The room was silent for a few minutes as the recruits pondered at their involvement in this seemingly flawless plan.

"I have a question, Flame Brain. Why do you need ALL of us to go through with this? It seems a little extra." Gray asked while looking at all of the students gathered in the room.

"Gajeel stands as the main fire power, his special skill being with his iron bullet machine gun." Natsu began. "Jellal is the attack distraction, his skills being with his throwing knives. Loke will use his sun blinding maneuver against the target to create an opening for me."

"Ok, but then why do you need me?" Gray wondered aloud. The other three looked expectantly to the teen in charge.

"You get a very special job, one that I think you'll find quite enjoyable," Natsu said, a glint of playfulness in his eye that could only mean danger. "You're the one who gets to shoot me."


End file.
